ID cards on table at terror summit

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Prime Minister John Howard is to lead a national
counter-terrorism summit involving the state and territory leaders
and security experts next month in a bid to better safeguard
Australia from terrorist attacks.

Identity cards, transport security and preventing terrorism
advocacy will be key items on the table at the summit, announced by
Mr Howard in Canberra this afternoon.

At a press conference outside Parliament House, Mr Howard said
he had asked the state and territory leaders to convene at "a
special meeting of the Council of Australian Governments to
consider counter-terrorism issues'' next month.

Mr Howard said he had outlined five main areas that would be
listed on the meeting's agenda, including counter-terrorism legal
frameworks, surface transport security and identity security.

Others were the more effective prevention of advocacy of
terrorism - including engaging community and religious leaders
- and enhancing community understanding of and engagement in
the national counter-terrorism arrangements.

Mr Howard's announcement comes a month after the London
bombings.

Home-grown response

The Prime Minister said he hoped the summit would also involve
members of the Australian Federal Police team that travelled
to London in the wake of the bombings, along with experts from
Britain.

''However, every country needs its home grown responses because
every country has a particular home grown challenge,'' he said.

Mr Howard warned the community against complacency about a
possible terrorist attack in Australia.

''I don't want to overestimate or overstate the challenge we
face but equally those who imagine that it can't happen here are
misplaced,'' he said.

''It can happen here and we would be very complacent if we
imagine it will not, although the challenges in this country are
not as great as I believe in many other societies.''

He said that, what has shaken many people in Britain and
Australia is that "the people who carried out the attacks in London
were British-born".

Difficult challenge

Mr Howard said he was determined to face the challenge of
balancing democratic civil liberties with counter-terrorism
proposals.

''Countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United
States face the difficult challenge of balancing our abhorrence of
terrorism and our determination to do all in our power to prevent
the terrorists striking at us with our natural and proper regard
for the liberty of the individual,'' he said.

''It is the ultimate responsibility of the government, in our
case, particularly the Federal Government, to find the right
balance between those two competing interests''.

After spending time in London after the bombings, Mr Howard said
Australia could learn from Britain's experience.

''We do need in the wake of what has occurred in London to
assess whether there are some messages from that that can be
incorporated into Australian arrangements,'' he said.

Asked if some of the issues to be discussed at the meeting could
curtail civil liberties, Mr Howard said: ''The most important civil
liberty you have and I have is to stay alive.''

''To protect people from attacks is in favour of, not against,
civil liberties.''

Asked about the comments of influential al-Qaeda leader Ayman
al-Zawahri, who has flagged further terrorist attacks in London, Mr
Howard said they would make no difference to Australia's foreign
policy.

''People who imagine you can buy some peace with terrorists by
pulling out of Iraq are deluding themselves,'' he said.